Angstrom exponent and bimodal aerosol size distributions

Power laws have long been used to describe the spectral dependence of aerosol extinction, and the wavelength exponent of the aerosol extinction law is commonly referred to as the Angstrom exponent. The Angstrom exponent is often used as a qualitative indicator of aerosol particle size, with values greater than 2 indicating small particles associated with combustion byproducts, and values less than 1 indicating large particles like sea salt and dust. In this study, we investigate the relationship between the Angstrom exponent and the mode parameters of bimodal aerosol size distributions using Mie theory calculations and Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) retrievals. We find that Angstrom exponents based upon…